The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-08-14
AMERICAS IZAAK WALTON
An Interview with DR.. J. A. Henshall
About His Fishing Experiences.
Ills Championship of the Black Bass-Fish-
ing at Home and Abroad-Rev. Myron
Reeds PiscatOrial Experiments.

nome Yesterday.
'sThe Book of the Black Bass" without which
no anglers library is complete, and ia a noted
authority on all topics connected with piscatoriai
sport His chief hold upon the affections Of
Anglers in the West comes from his champion
ship of the black bass which he shows to be the
nonpareIl game fish of America.
Twenty five years ago." said the Doctor to
journal reporter. II fshed in your White river
and Fall creek, near this city, and found capital
sport. OF course. that was bait fishing, as In
that day nobody supposed the bass would rise to
fly. Ten twelve years ago there was warm
discussion in the Forest and Stream as to whetn-
er the bass would do So 1t is very well settled
now that the black bass will often rise to TIE ny
when be will not take q bait at all since the
discovery has been made that he will rise to e
Hy he has, Of course, greatly advanced In tho es-
timation of the true angler, for fly fishing Is
more artistic more satisfactory aud altogether
more understandable than any bait fishing
find quite number of expert fly fishermen here
in Indianapolis 1t was very agreeable sur
rrise 10 me to find many and
such enthusiastic lovers of the sport
They are not only good fly fishermen, but they
IRE handsomely equipped with the best rods and
lackle and the competest fy-books. remem-
Der that even in the days of bait fishing indian
apolis anglers were famous for always having
the best tackle. White river has been, and
would again be if protected, one of the best bass
streams in the country. 1t is still beautiful
ztream when you 60 out distance from the
city"
..Wbere and when was the largest black bass
ever takenF
..Tne largest ever taken said the Doctor,
who appears to have all such Information at his
tongues end ready for instant delivery, twas
,ent to the Office Of the Forest and Stream from
Florida IL was o large mouth bass. and
weighed twenty-thre pounds. have seen bass
taken in Florida weighing twenty pounds, and
took myself one weighing fourteen pounds. VI
course that is bait fishing Eight pounds Is the
maximum here for the large-rnoutn pass, anu
that il unusual, and five pounds TOT the shaii-
mouth Six pounds may be considered. except
in extremely instances, as the limit IN
weight of the plymouth bass In the North "a
numhar of am All IN outh bass have been taken near
(,Iens Falls New York. that weighed In the neigh
borhood of and eleven pounds each-the
largest ever known. These were nah taken out
~ Ronnd lake which had been stocked with
BASS taken from Lake George. There has never
been a small mouth bass taken from Lake George
How is the extreme weight of the Round
lake bass accounted for"
s.T will tell you Round lake is a small body
of water and when the bass were put into 1t
thew found an inexhaustiblo supply OF sinners
and minnows-an abundant food supply OF
which the newcomer awaited himself most vo-
raciouslv 1t is because of this abundance of
food that the bass reaches the extreme weight
that he does and for the further reason That ne
Toes not hibernate as nere' ou6 IeeoS al 1oo
year through"
the most beautiful of all game fishes and the
"The graylne" remarked the Doctor, sor-
sowfully sis nearly fshed out There are now
very few left in Michigan. The grayline Is not
as shy as tho trout, and takes the fly more
readily. For that reason he has been an easy
prey 20 the angler, and will soon become ex-
lin N Y
lreme North and the graylng Of Michigan Is
relative There is in Montana where
Niehigan. In English streams where the gray
ling once abounded. il is now extremely rare"
The Doctor returned recently from Euro
pean tour. He was asked if he fshed any while
Il paid said he, "a visit to the
dear to lzaak Walton, the patron saint OF all
true anglers who was himself fly fisherman,
and discoursed of the gentle art in his Com
plete Angler which is to-day a favorite and
popular classic and, as Hazlitt has termed it,
the best pastoral in the English tongue That
angling prolongs life Is shown by the fact that
Izaak Walton. who gave his book to the world
at the age Of sixty, lived thirty years afterward,
an angler to the last. j f1shed in the Wye the
Derwent and the Dove streams, haHowed by the
memory of Sir Izaak the fret named IN here
ositv to see tho streams. The brook trout fish
log in England is nothing as compared with
trout fshinx in this country. Three or four
trout there is considered good basket to make
In a day. The streams are open and the trout
Are very shy and wary Small flies and light
tackle are required TO get them Inc Derwent
aud Dove have rocky bluffs with occasional
Bmooth stretches, and are very picturesque for
England. AS said, fishing IS scarce In Eng,
land. There is salmon fishing in Scotland and
in Norway, and with these exceptions there IS
little angling in Europe, the sport being poor as
compared wi tn that afforded in the United States
and Canada. There are few anglers on the con-
tinent, and for the most part where they nsh at
iii it is in a very primitive style. There are
many fishing clubs in England, especially in
London. There many bait fishermen, and
there are fishing matches where they fish all day,
weigh the catch and have prizes. Sometimes an
right ounce catch will take the first prize The
fish .augh for the most part coarse-dace,
roach, perch ana such like. But these matches
ar1, followed by dinner and a jolly good time.
'sIn London there is regular fly bshers club
which is really fine club with the best Of
anglers They have a we'll appointed club house.
an excellent library and the men oership is COM
posed of men of education and culture was
made an honorary member OF this club, an hon
or L esteem highly. | would say the English
trout is the brown trout aud not nearly game
as our trout handsome. Neither is it as
good a table fish as our FISH. Our trout is really
a char socalled in contradistiDction to the Eur
cpean trout.
the Quadalouivir. The fish 1 caught there are
of a species allied to the sucker and carp, but
very gamy l fshed just as the people there
did, with a cane pole, using minnows as bait.
The fish 1 speak of is considered of their
ramiest fishes and best for the table. 1t grows
TO quite a size, eight ten pounds. could not
And out its name and classification there and
have not since had time to hunt it up"
Perhaps it it the presence of DR.. Henshall-
Mt any rate. the air is full of fish stories Rev.
Myron w. Reed, of Denver. who has been in
The city for a few days, added considerably &c
the collection. Mr. Reed has been trying to
Introduce to a number of local anglers q new
bait He AYERS that three inches cut off from
the end OF the tail of a medium sized garter
snake makes peculiarly attractive bait TO,
bass. The wekuown theory that the tail of
snake lives and wiggles until the sun goe:
down is here brought into practical use. Mr.
Ksed when questioned as TO how supply o.
tails to be kept on hand, said he under
stood that half a dozen garter snakes would be
sufficient when the stumps were carefully
annointed and properly cared for new tail.
grow out
NJ Read,a inxentinn recalls thu late Gaorgs